A MAN whose father died while he was holidaying in the United States was told to pay $2246 to buy a new Air New Zealand ticket to get home for the funeral.
Javas Carter, from Picton in the Marlborough region, found out his father had passed away while in Los Angeles.
He immediately contacted the airline to request an earlier flight home, but was told he would have to buy a new ticket because he had booked using United Airlines points.
Mr Carter’s original flight was due to depart on Sunday night, but it would have arrived too late to guarantee he could attend his father’s funeral.
Mr Carter and his friends made several phone calls to Air New Zealand, but it was only after the media contacted the airline that a seat was found for him to return in time.
“Both the airlines tried to blame each other,” Mr Javas told the NZ Herald.
“Air New Zealand were saying ‘you need to call United’ and United would say ‘no, you need to call Air New Zealand’.”
“They never gave me an answer, they just directed me to other people.
“All I wanted to do was get home as soon as I could. I’m sure they hear excuses all the time but it was just disgusting and appalling.
“Can’t they just be human for a moment and try to comprehend a certain situation? I’m 23 years old and my dad passed away yesterday morning and I’m just trying to get home as fast as I can.”
Air New Zealand said the airline does have a bereavement policy, but insisted Mr Carter was a United Airlines customer.
Mr Carter had not ruled out taking legal action against both airlines.
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